Posts Tagged ‘doula’

Someone recently suggested for me to apply to be a blogger for a health blog site. My labor and delivery blog was reviewed and accepted by the owner of the web site. I will be writing about pregnancy and fertility. If you have any suggestions on what subjects you would like me to write about please let me know. If you are an author of a pregnancy related book, please feel free to contact me. Although the process of childbirth has not changed over the ages, more and more women want to have the “birth day” of their wishes. Through my work as a labor doula, I hope to empower women to fulfill their ultimate birth plan.

Please keep this in mind……You will need to be flexible with your birth plan. Circumstances can change in labor at any time. Although your plan may not have worked out the way that you may have wanted, a healthy baby is the ultimate outcome.

I decided to volunteer for another teen lamaze class on comfort measures. This time I will be bringing a few more gadgets that I have in my Doula bag. I recently bought a nice pink massager at Bath and Body Works

The other item came from Walmart. I will not promote the item because of a recent bad encounter with a sales associate over a clearence item. I will keep you guessing until Wednesday of next week. I am thinking of buying the item for each of the young girls in the lamaze class as a gift from me. Put it this way it is an item that will help get the significant other involved.

Here are some links to some interesting massagers and a few other ideas on comfort measures. HINT HINT……..I will be glad to review and try some of these massagers if you bless me with one 🙂

Every minute a newborn comes into this world. At that exact moment a star is born in their parent’s eyes. I have seen the look over the thousands of births that I have been a part of for the past 17 years of my career as a labor and delivery nurse. I look forward to seeing the same starry eyed looked in the new parents faces when I volunteer as a labor/postpartum doula. I started to knit a new blanket to be added to the gift packs that I have been making up. I just multiplied the pattern to make the blanket to be what ever size I want it to be.

I have bnd een busy preparing for a mother and baby reunion with the other doulas that I am working with. I found some really cute woven totes colored pink and blue. Now I have to fill them with some different items. I have 24 bags to fill. I have some odd and end items to put in them like note pads, ceramic angels, and some candles. I hope to find some cute bibs and bottles and Dollar General and Dollar Tree. I have some homemade fleece blankets that I plan on putting in the tote bags. I was thinking of putting together some quick and easy recipes on cards that the mothers could use. I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of the mothers and babies.

In life people have dreams of being rich, owning a big house, driving a nice car, etc,etc. But does money really buy you happiness? Maybe for the short time that you are here on Earth. The true riches I am talking about can only be found at your final destination. I sit here with a book that was bought for me by a friend. He bought it at a bargain of a price at Barnes and Noble for $7.98. It is called The Science Of Success by Wallace D. Wattles. Within the book lies a wealth of information. Here is a quote from Wattles “He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to act in a successful manner.” I would have to say my big dream started out as a big joke one night while I sat in the nursery of the hospital. It was a busy night for the nursery nurses. Most of the babies were bottle fed that night. I held a baby in my arms and proceeded to give the baby it’s bottle. As always the conversations between the nurses varied and then I said…….Someday I want to be a doula. I told them about a conversation I had with a local doula. She actually made more money than I did for one night of work after taxes. I said something is wrong with that picture. The nursery nurses joked around if they could come and work for me when I started my business. They asked me what I would name my business and I said ___________. Fast forward to today. Today I am close to my vision of owning my own business. There are certain things that need to be done. I have found a great mentor and I am learning something new all the time. The business of childbirth is ever changing. Although the process is the same. The new way is to empower women in the journey through childbirth. Doulas are leading the way.

Tonight will be the end of the month doula meeting and the educational topic will be about waterbirth. There will be a video shown about the topic. I have decided not to take my five year old son with me. Children are allowed at the meetings but I can’t see myself trying to explain why a birth is happening in the water. When I worked as a labor and delivery nurse, it was frowned on children being in the delivery room while their mother delivered. The youngest person I can remember being in the room was 15 years old. In a way it would be good for children younger than 15 to be in the room. It would be a great form of…… See how much pain is involved in childbirth……..Then again the child might be emotionally scarred for life. Or it could be a great bonding experience for the whole family. After all……Why do they call it a family birth center? Childbirth should be a family centered occasion. Bringing the whole family together for a blessed event.

I worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse for 17 years. For the most part I loved my job. I loved the one on one time I shared with my patients. I hated to chart. I would often get yelled at by my head nurse for talking too much to my patients. She never quite understood that for me the patient came first and the charting came last. I wanted my patients to have the best possible care. If I could do it all over again I would have become a nurse midwife. I am presently looking into becoming a labor doula. I look forward to starting my own business someday.

During labor a patient can truly sense if her nurse is a caring individual or someone who just doesn’t care at all. I experienced many coworkers who just didn’t care about their patients. From the comments they made to the comments that my patients would tell me after their nurse just finished her shift. Many times my patients would thank me for explaining the labor process to them. I would often get great big hugs from my patients after their deliveries. I miss being a Labor and Delivery nurse. By becoming a doula, I feel that it will help me get back into the health care field on a volunteer basis first. Who knows…..I might land a job as a Labor and Delivery nurse in a new hospital with a different head nurse.